Observatorio argentino 28: La cosa más rara en una historia ya rara

 By now I suspect anyone reading this is well aware of the Nisman saga in Argentina. For those of you who are not, Chris Hayes had a pretty good synopsis:

But that isn’t the weirdest thing. Nor are President Fernández’s weird rambling Facebook posts the weirdest thing. Not even her bizarre tweets are the weirdest thing. No, the weirdest thing, if correct, is a story for which I have not been able to find corroboration. According to Mercopress, when the House Foreign Affairs Committee announced that it would send a group of low-level staffers to Argentina to find out what the hell was going on, Ambassador Cecilia Nahon delivered an angry message saying: “Argentina will not tolerate any United States intervention in the investigation of prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s death, and will consider any attempt as an interference in the country’s domestic affairs and a violation of Argentine sovereignty.”

If true, and I am not yet sure that it is, that would be an incredibly dumb response to a pro-forma investigation by a House committee. It makes it sound like they are worried. But if they are, then they should not show that they are. 

But then again, this is the administration of the president that publicly mocked the accents of her Chinese hosts when trying to whomp up investment from that country. So who knows? The political incompetence is interesting to watch ... but I have the luck to not be Argentine. I suspect I would feel more strongly about it if I were; there is a reason why the apocryphal Chinese curse is considered a curse. 

Comments

[shah8]

This is nothing compared to what went on during Bo Xilai's downfall, mini-coup attempt in Beijing and all. And nobody's saying nuttink.

If one follows the news, shadowy no moves barred political moves with extreme public reticence about revealing details happens every so often.

I just pretty much viewed the whole Nisman incidence as something only insiders would ever be allowed to know what happened. Including the possibility of a empty-meaning Vince Foster type incident generating conspiracy theories everywhere.

[Noel Maurer]

Here's a proposition: Argentine politics actually is the way a plurality of Americans imagine our politics to be.